Numbers 6:21

6:21 “This is the law ¹  of the Nazirite who vows to the Lord his offering according to his separation, as well as whatever else he can provide. ²  Thus he must fulfill ³  his vow that he makes, according to the law of his separation.”

Numbers 13:32

13:32 Then they presented the Israelites with a discouraging ⁴  report of the land they had investigated, saying, “The land that we passed through ⁵  to investigate is a land that devours ⁶  its inhabitants. ⁷  All the people we saw there ⁸  are of great stature.

Numbers 19:2

19:2 “This is the ordinance of the law which the Lord has commanded: ‘Instruct ⁹  the Israelites to bring ¹⁰  you a red ¹¹  heifer ¹²  without blemish, which has no defect ¹³  and has never carried a yoke.

[6:21]  ¹ tn Actually, “law” here means a whole set of laws, the basic rulings on this topic.

[6:21]  ² tn Heb “whatever else his hand is able to provide.” The imperfect tense has the nuance of potential imperfect – “whatever he can provide.”

[6:21]  ³ tn Heb “according to the vow that he vows, so he must do.”

[13:32]  ⁴ tn Or “an evil report,” i.e., one that was a defamation of the grace of God.

[13:32]  ⁵ tn Heb “which we passed over in it”; the pronoun on the preposition serves as a resumptive pronoun for the relative, and need not be translated literally.

[13:32]  ⁶ tn The verb is the feminine singular participle from אָכַל (’akhal); it modifies the land as a “devouring land,” a bold figure for the difficulty of living in the place.

[13:32]  ⁷ sn The expression has been interpreted in a number of ways by commentators, such as that the land was infertile, that the Canaanites were cannibals, that it was a land filled with warlike dissensions, or that it denotes a land geared for battle. It may be that they intended the land to seem infertile and insecure.

[13:32]  ⁸ tn Heb “in its midst.”

[19:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “speak to.”

[19:2]  ⁸ tn The line literally reads, “speak to the Israelites that [and] they bring [will bring].” The imperfect [or jussive] is subordinated to the imperative either as a purpose clause, or as the object of the instruction – speak to them that they bring, or tell them to bring.

[19:2]  ⁹ tn The color is designated as red, although the actual color would be a tanned red-brown color for the animal (see the usage in Isa 1:18 and Song 5:10). The reddish color suggested the blood of ritual purification; see J. Milgrom, “The Paradox of the Red Cow (Num 19),” VT 31 (1981): 62-72.

[19:2]  ¹⁰ sn Some modern commentators prefer “cow” to “heifer,” thinking that the latter came from the influence of the Greek. Young animals were usually prescribed for the ritual, especially here, and so “heifer” is the better translation. A bull could not be given for this purification ritual because that is what was given for the high priests or the community according to Lev 4.

[19:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “wherein there is no defect.”